Kyrie Irving tips his cap to Celtics’ home-court advantage after Boston’s Game 2 win
"They have really made their identity here. They want to take care of home court."
Kyrie Irving didn’t sound the alarms after the Celtics beat the Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
Rather, he candidly admitted that he thought the TD Garden crowd was going to be a “little louder” for the series opener.
On Sunday night, Irving continued to preach positivity and patience with his team, even after Boston built itself a 2-0 series edge off of a hard-fought Game 2 victory.
But speaking after Dallas’ 105-98 loss, Irving did give some credit to the Celtics’ home-court advantage amid another raucous night on Causeway Street.
“They feel very confident here,” Irving said. “They have been a great team all year. Look at their record, I don’t know how many total games they have lost since the postseason started. But I don’t think it’s more than six or seven.
“So they have really made their identity here. They want to take care of home court. And now it’s our job to go home and do the same. … So I think we’ve got a great feel, a great experience here in Boston of what the Finals is like for our group. Now we go home and shake off the cobwebs a bit and prepare for another fight.”
On a night where Boston struggled to bury the Mavericks with its barrage of 3-point shots (10-for-39), Dallas labored with capitalizing down the other end of the court — converting on just six 3-pointers of their own.
Beyond a 32-performance from Luka Doncic, no other Dallas player recorded over 20 points in Game 2 — with Irving held to 16 points on 7-for-18 shooting. Through the first two games of the NBA Finals, Irving is shooting just 35.1% from the field.
“I would take the brunt of the responsibility,” Irving said of his role in Dallas’ loss. “The first two games weren’t the best for me, especially [Doncic] scoring 25-plus the points, getting rebounds, getting assists, doing the intangibles, and for me I’ve always felt responsible for getting other guys comfortable out there, too.
“It’s on all of us. I’m pretty sure if you hear what everybody has to say, they will say that they can do something better. But I think the message right now is just get our bearings together.”
Irving was far from the only Mavericks player to tip his cap to Boston after the Celtics handled their business in their own building in Games 1 and 2.
“They’re just better,” P.J. Washington said of the Celtics and how they compare to the rest of the NBA. “At the end of the day, they are better than all the teams we’ve played. It’s the Finals, and we’ve just got to be better. Everything.
“Their record says that they have been the best team all year. They have two superstars, they have a lot of great role players and they play team ball. So we’ve just got to be better.”
Even though Doncic is averaging 31 points per game so far in this series, Boston’s depth, defensive intensity, and ability to switch against whatever Dallas has thrown at them has led to two frustrating results at TD Garden.
“They are physical, yeah,” Doncic said. “But they try to guard one-on-one. I think today they tried to help more. I was able to get some teammates open. But they are physical. They are very physical. We let them be physical. So they are pretty, pretty amazing on defense.”
The Mavericks will already have their hands full on Wednesday as they try to defend their own home court in Game 3. Not only will Dallas have to contend with Boston’s stingy defense, but Joe Mazzulla’s squad is also due for a spike in 3-point shooting after Sunday’s regression.
“We’ve got to find a way, continue, again, to build on our defense,” Jason Kidd added. “Our defense put us in a position to win tonight. Unfortunately, our offense didn’t help us. And so, again, Ky and Luka are going to get their looks.
“We have got to get someone else involved to be able to knock down some shots. Defensively, we can build on this and we can be better. We’ve got to take care of the ball.”
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